In February 2008, Fox Broadcasting Company gave the go-ahead to cast Stephens as the lead in a potential one hour, prime time U.S. television show, Inseparable, to be produced by Shaun Cassidy. Billed as a modern Jekyll and Hyde story, the show was to feature a partially paralyzed forensic psychologist whose other personality is a charming criminal. Stephens' casting was highly unusual, because Fox had not yet approved a script nor purchased a pilot for the show. However, in mid-May 2008, The Hollywood Reporter announced that "[b]y the time the network picked up the pilot . . . [the producers'] hold on Stephens had expired . . . ."[2][3]

In May 2008, Stephens performed the role of James Bond in a BBC Radio 4 production of Ian Fleming's Dr. No, as part of the centenary celebration of Fleming's birth. The production was reportedly the first BBC radio dramatization of the novel though Moonraker was on South African radio in 1956, with Bob Holness providing the voice of Bond.[4].

Also in May 2008, Stock-pot Productions announced that Stephens will have the lead role in a feature-length film entitled Fly Me, co-starring Tim McInnerny.[5] Stock-pot was also the producer of One Day, a short 2006 film shown at international film festivals, in which Stephens played a small part as the boss of McInnerny's character.

On 5 October 2008, Stephens appeared onstage at the London Palladium as part of a benefit entitled "The Story of James Bond, A Tribute to Ian Fleming." The event, organized by Fleming's niece, Lucy Fleming, featured music from various James Bond films and Bond film stars reading from Fleming's Bond novels. Stephens took the part of James Bond himself in the readings.

In early December 2008, Stephens read from Coda, the last book written by his good friend Simon Gray, for BBC Radio 4. The excerpts from which Stephens read included Gray's description of Gray's participation as godfather at the christening of Stephens' son Eli.

Stephens has finished filming a three-part comedic television series for BBC Two entitled Vexed, about "two detectives who share chemistry but have complicated personal lives."[6] In addition, according to IMDb, Stephens has been cast in two episodes of a six-part television series, Strike Back, based on the novel by Chris Ryan. The show will air on Sky1 in Spring 2010.[7]

Over the years, Stephens has continued to prolifically narrate audiobooks and perform in broadcast radio dramas; over the last two years, he has given 12 such performances. In March 2010, BBC Audiobooks will release a recording of Time and the Conways, a radio drama based on J.B. Priestley's play, in which Stephens was cast in the role of Robin. The drama originally aired on BBC Radio in 1994. In April 2010, Stephens will perform the role of James Bond yet again in the BBC Radio 4 production of Goldfinger, a radio drama based on the James Bond book. Stephens' wife, Anna-Louise Plowman will perform the role of Jill Masterton opposite Stephens. That same month, the BBC will release the drama Journey into Space: The Host as an audiobook; Stephens performed the lead role of Jet Morgan when the drama was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2009.

Stephens will also return to the stage in 2010 to star as Henry in a revival of Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing, to be directed by Anna Mackmin at the Old Vic Theatre in London. The play will run from April 10, 2010 (in previews until April 21, 2010), through June 5, 2010. Of debuting at the Old Vic, where his parents performed as part of Laurence Olivier's Royal National Theatre company, Stephens recently said: "It's quite moving for me to do something there. It means it has an added fascination. It was an historic place but I never saw anything when [my parents] were there, which is really sad, because I was just born. I'm a huge admirer of Stoppard's work."[8]

As of January 2010, Stephens is reportedly filming a new made-for-television movie, The Blue Geranium, a further sequel to the television series and movies based on Agatha Christie's Miss Marple character. [11]

Personal life

In May 2007, Toby Stephens and his wife of six years, New Zealand actress Anna-Louise Plowman, had their first child, a son named Eli Alistair.[12] The late Simon Gray, the renowned British playwright (who penned Japes, a stage play, and Missing Dates, a radio drama, both of which starred Stephens), was reportedly Eli's godfather.[13] Stephens and his wife became the parents of a second child, a girl named Tallulah, in May 2009.[14]